We regularly get questions on how to make your coffee taste better at home. And especially, how to get the Cappuccinos just as good at home as when you drink it here at the Roastery. Luckily we have Sophia here to guide you; a cappuccino pro and a mum who survives her days at home by preparing Roastery worthy Cappuccinos with her full automatic coffee machine and a milk foamer wand. Follow these 5 tricks and you'll be sipping a better tasting Cappuccino at home in no time!
Step 1: Choose the correct beans after your taste preference.
Might sound simple and it is once you have found your right blend. However, our blends don't come out the same in all machines so we recommend to test your way through our assortment to find your perfect combination. We use Sunny Side for all our Cappuccino and Café Latte in the shop so start by trying that in your machine and then move over to Dark Side if you want more intense strength or to Early Bird (Blue Bird in winter) if you want it more fruity notes and sweetness in your coffee.
Step 2: Grind your beans for each cup.
Key to brewing a good cup of coffee is to have as freshly grind beans as possible. This means; try to avoid pre-grinded coffee and only grind what you actually need for that cup of coffee and keep your beans in an air-tight jar. In short; coffee does not like too much contact with air, the beans degas and this gradually effects the taste. Ground coffee will loose its taste much faster than beans.
Step 3: Extract a strong espresso (or double)
A nice thick, creamy espresso is key for a rich tasting cappuccino. How strong you can extract your coffee of course depends on what coffee machine or coffee maker you have at home. With a full automatic its all pre set but if you think its too watery it might be time to adjust the grinder or just make it a shorter espresso by taking away the cup once the extraction starts to get watery. If you work with an AeroPress its also super easy to make an intense espresso. Choose to grind your coffee really fine and use the paper filter or an AeroPress metal filter. You need about 1-2 scoops (10-20g) of grind coffee , stir intensly for about 10 seconds, then attach the plunger and slowly press out the rich espresso into your cup. This should give you a nice intense espresso and sometimes even with a bit of crema on top.
Step 4: Use full fat fresh milk from happy Swiss alp cows (not UHT)
Good quality milk is another important component for a Cappuccino. Long lasting milk is of course very convenient to have at home but if you want a tasty cappuccino its not the best choice. Using full fat fresh milk instead of UHT milk truly makes a huge difference so if you've checked all the previous steps but still use UHT milk... give fresh milk a try and it'll most likely be the game changer. For best original Engelberg taste we of course recommend our super milk supplier Molki Stans.
Step 5: Heat milk to maximum 60-65 degrees Celsius
One common mistake when making a cappuccino at home is to heat up the milk too much which tends to, first of all burn your tongue, but also give a certain unpleasant burned milk taste. Try heating up the milk to maximum 60-65 degrees Celsius and then begin to foam it. Foam wands or jugs work perfectly fine to get micro foam, you just need to know when to stop foaming for the perfect texture and maybe stomp, pour between jugs or just swirl the milk for a bit to get a nice light and flowy microfoam. If you have a steam foamer the trick is to listen for a kind of whistling sound, not let too much air in and keep your hand on the jug until its warm enough. If you burn your hand, you've heated it too much.
Our favourite milk foam wand is the subminimal NanoFoamer. All you need is a this and a milk jug and you can practise making Latte art at home,
Last but not least you assemble... Pour your foamy, creamy milk onto your espresso and ENJOY! If you feel you need to work on your Latte art skills to get a little heart or flower on the Cappuccino, we regularly offer Barista courses which will get you on the right track pretty fast. Check out our EVENTS page to find a date that suits you!
Hope this was helpful and we look forward to hearing about and seeing your results :)